Bail scam targets elderly Parkersburg residents

ByStaff reports

January 23, 2013

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PARKERSBURG, W.Va. -- A man has been calling elderly Parkersburg residents saying he needs money to bail their grandsons out of jail, police said.An 85-year-old man told officers someone called him this week and identified as an attorney representing his grandson. The caller said the man's grandson had been arrested for driving under the influence in New York City and needed $2,000 for bail.The elderly man then wired the money to the requested location, according to a news release issued by the Parkersburg Police Department.The caller told the elderly man he would call back the next morning but never did. When the elderly man phoned his daughter, she told him that her son hadn't been arrested and was never in New York.The caller tried to contact the victim again but the elderly man did not send any more money that time, police said.

Parkersburg police said they're investigating at least one other senior citizen who was scammed in a similar call.Similar scams have appeared in West Virginia before. A Charleston couple was targeted by someone claiming to be their grandson in 2011. The caller said he had been in a fatal car accident, and needed to pay a fine to avoid more serious charges.The scam has popped up in Hurricane and the Eastern Panhandle in recent years as well.